Mary Mary Why You Buggen?

In 1907 Mary Mallon was the first person in the United States to be diagnosed as a carrier of Typhoid Fever, hence the alias “Typhoid Mary”. She was a cook in New York and implicated in transferring the pathogen in 53 cases causing the death of 3 people. She started her illustrious career right here in Westchester County, in Mamaroneck in 1900.

Typhoid Fever is Salmonella typhi and can be transmitted through poor personal hygiene, more often than not, from improper or lack of handwashing after using the toilet.

The victim count in the ongoing Cyclospora outbreak in bagged salads has now affected 378 people in 15 states and those numbers continue to rise and no exact source has been named.

If the bagged salads have since been out of consumer circulation due to a past expiration date and people are still getting sick, that means a couple of scenarios:

1.     There is another contaminated product on the market that has yet to be implicated.

Or…and

2.      Like Typhoid Mary in 1900, people who have Cyclospora are transmitting the parasitic infection by not washing their hands properly after using the toilet, then preparing food. That’s called “Fecal-Oral” transmission and is down right nasty.

History has a not so funny way of repeating itself.

For more information about food safety, please visit:  foodsafetystories.com

Dave Walpuck CP-FS